Life’s A Masquerade
by dark-star.mystery
Summary: Bella meets a mysterious man at Alice's masquerade. The events of the night pull the two apart. Who is this mysterious man and when will they meet again?
1. Chapter 1

Life's A Masquerade

Chapter 1

"Alice! Alice get your little tinker bell butt in here!" Bella yelled as she stood in front of Alice's guestroom mirror. She sighed and looked herself over again. Alice had dressed her in a royal blue gown with silver butterflies sewn into the bottom of the dress and had been handed a silver and blue mask that was shaped like a butterfly that covered her eyes, nose, and most of her cheeks. How had Alice convinced her to show up at this masquerade party? It was her first week in Forks and she hardly knew anyone and she had wanted to keep it that way. Bella had always been shy and kept to the books she loved so much, but somehow her new friend Alice had convinced her that the masquerade would be a fun way to meet people without them learning who she really was, or as Alice had put it "you really get to know people when they hide behind a mask".

"Knock knock, you yelled?" Alice asked in a cheery fashion as she skipped into the room.

"Alice I'm crazy for letting you talk me into this. I should have just stayed at home and curled up with one of my favorites."

Alice gave Bella sad smile. "I promise tonight will change your life forever. If it doesn't you will never have to go on another shopping trip with me."

Giving herself a look over once again she sighed and sat down in front of Alice's vanity. "Never again?" Bella asked. Alice's eyes sparkled as she moved to Bella and started to pull her curled chocolate hair on top of her head.

"Never." Alice said with a smile. "But you know that's not going to happen. I have a really good feeling about tonight for you."

"Not again with your premonitions Alice. The last feeling you had about me I ended up under a pile of books." Bella said with a nervous glance at Alice in the vanity mirror.

"Oh don't be such a whiny child Bella. You found that rare book you had been looking for." Alice gave a small laugh. "Now that I have your hair done you can put on your mask and head down stairs to mingle with all the guests."

"What about you, when are you coming down?" Bella asked with a slight curiosity ask she tied the mask on.

"I will be down just as soon as Jasper arrives." Alice glanced at the clock on the wall, gave a small squeak and ran to the guest room door. "Which should been any minute." She said hastily as she ran out the door and down the hall. Bella gave a small laugh at her friend and stood up only to stumble on the heels that Alice had berated her into wearing.

"Stupid death traps" Bella mumbled as she slowly made her way to the door and down the hallway to the stairs. As she reached the top of the stairs she could hear the beat of the music and the laughter and talk of the guests downstairs. Taking in a deep breath Bella pulled up the front of her dress so she wouldn't step on it and gingerly took each step at a time. "_Watch me fall and break my leg or my neck. Stupid Alice and her insistence on me wearing these heels_" Bella thought to angrily to herself. A few steps from the bottom Bella began to congratulate herself on making down the steps without falling when she heard someone call her name from her right. Bella's head snapped in the direction of the person calling her name and saw Jacob a friend of hers from the reservation. With a smile to him and a quick wave she forgot she was still on the steps and let the front of her dress fall to the floor. With her next step she knew she had congratulated herself to early as she stepped on her dress and sent herself flying forward down the steps. Bella threw her arms out and prepared to hit the ground below, but the hard floor never came. Instead it was a strong set of arms that stopped her.

"Be careful we wouldn't want a pretty girl hurting herself tonight." A velvet voice said. As Bella looked up to thank the man who had helped her, her breath caught in her throat. The man a few feet taller than herself was dressed in black slacks and a white shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His face was half covered in a black mask decorated with crimson swirls. His hair was a dark shade of black which some how looked out of place with the rest of this natural features. But what was most unusual were his golden eyes, they were beautiful but obviously couldn't really be that color, he must have had contacts in for the party.

"Oh, um… sorry about that. I'm naturally clumsy." Bella blushed as she looked away afraid her staring would make him uncomfortable. "Thank you for your help."

"More than happy to help a damsel in distress." The stranger said with a crooked smile. He put out his hand for her to shake. "As I am not allowed to give you my real name tonight per our hosts request let me introduce myself as my character name for the night. I am Cullen the vampire."

Bella took his hand and give it a quick shake. "A vampire with no blood stains, no fangs, and gold eyes" Bella said as she gave him a smirk.

"Ah yes… well there is an explanation for that. There is a book about vampires, something new that all the girls love. My friend suggested I dress like a vampire from the book for the night. I had nothing else to go as, so here I am, a golden eyed vampire. As for the blood stains and fangs, well not every vampire is messy and has to have fanged teeth." Cullen said.

"Well I must say I kind of like it. It's a refreshing twist." Bella replied with a small smile. "You can call me Marie the butterfly princess."

Just then Alice dressed in her short pink dress, pink fairy wings, and glittery pink mask ran over and grabbed Bella by the arm. "Marie come meet the General." Alice said as she tugged on Bella's arm. "Oh hello, sorry I cant stay and chat, but I really must take Marie for a minute." She said quickly to Cullen.

"It was nice meeting you. Maybe we will run in again before the night is over?" Cullen said as he gave Alice a nod of recognition.

Alice pulled Bella a few feet away before she could reply. "Hopefully!" Bella yelled over her shoulder as Alice dragged her along through the crowded room. "Alice what are you doing? I know how to walk on my own, you don't need to drag me."

"I need to you meet Jasper, and if I didn't drag you away I don't think you would ever come with me." Alice stopped suddenly and turned to Bella. "He was kinda cute. Who was he?"

"Cullen, the vampire." Bella said giving Alice a hateful look. "And you dragged me away from him. I may never see him again."

"All good things come in time." Alice shrugged as she grabbed Bella's arm again and began to lead her through the crowed towards a man in a military uniform. Stopping in front of the military clad man she dropped Bella's arm and stood on her tip toes to kiss the man on the cheek as she wrapped her arms around him. "Bella meet Jasper."

"Nice to meet you Bella. You can call me General tonight. Alice was insistent that we all have fake names for the night." Jasper said.

"Wonderful to meet you Jasper… er General. Tink here has told me a lot about you." Bella gave Jasper a warm smile as she gave a quick glance over at Alice who was practically bouncing on the spot. "You can call me Marie for the night." Jasper gave Bella a soft smile and a nod before asking Alice to dance. As they went off onto the dance floor Bella worked her way over to the kitchen to grab a drink before heading back out into the massive crowd of masked people. Looking around Bella saw no one she recognized and no one she really cared to talk with, so she headed towards the library in hopes of getting away from all the noise and people. As Bella slipped into the library unnoticed she gave a sigh of relief.

"Ah we meet again my butterfly princess."A voice said from behind her making her jump and drop her glass onto the floor with a clatter.

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This is my first story so please let me know what you think, even if its bad. All comments appreciated because the comments will help me know if Im doing good or not. Im still trying to figure out if I should continue or not.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Cullen!" Bella said with a startled surprise. "I didn't think anyone would be in here. Im sorry if Im disturbing you." Bella rushed out as she blushed a deep red and bent down to pickup her fallen glass.

"Sorry about that. I thought you saw me in here, I had thought you had decided to join me away from the rest of the party." Cullen said with a half smile.

"Ah.. no… sorry. I just wanted to get away from the party." Bella walked around Cullen and sat the now empty glass on one of the end tables on either side of the couch that was situated in front of a large ornate fireplace.

"I see. Maybe I should leave you alone then." Cullen said with disappointment as he reached for the door handle. Bella turned quickly to face him and shook her head no. "You want me to stay then?" He asked her with a questioning look. Again she was without words but nodded her head. She blushed a light pink and moved across the room to one of the large windows to look out of it.

"Only if you want to." Se barely said above a whisper.

"You know you would give a vampire a heart attack." Cullen said stepping away from the door and moving to the couch. Bella gave him a ponderous look as she tried to decipher his statement. "Your blush." He said as though that would clear up her confusion.

Not moving from her spot near the window Bella gave him a small smile and began to laugh. "I have no idea what your talking about, a vampire doesn't have a beating heart, he couldn't have a heart attack."

Cullen waited for her laughter to stop before he clarified his words. "You would give a vampire a heart attack because your blush is a rush of blood to your face. And any vampire who is trying to resist you would be hard pressed not to jump you every time you blushed. Im sure your blood would just sing to them." He said matter of factly. This caused yet another now common reaction of Bella's blush to creep up her neck and onto her cheeks. "See there you go again." He said with a chuckle.

Slowly Bella moved back across the room and took at seat at the other end of the couch at which Cullen was already sitting. She gave him another look over as she thought of something to say. "Your hair is odd." She said before she realized how that sounded and slapped a hand across her mouth.

"Well thank you." Cullen said sarcastically with a frown.

"I didn't mean it to sound bad. Its just your hair doesn't seem to fit you." Bella said apologetically.

"There is a reason for that.." Cullen started but was cut off before he could tell her why when the door to the library burst open and slammed against the wall.

"Oops… sorry about that. Forget my own strength sometimes." The man at the door said. He was dress in torn shorts and a furr vest that was undone in the front to show of his muscled chest. Perched on top of his head was a set of fur ears the same color as his vest and his face was half covered with a fur mask. "Ah there you are. I have been looking for you." He said indicating towards Bella. "Miss Tink sent me to find you. Apparently she has more guests she wishes to introduce you too."

Bella stood and moved towards the man and the open door. "She knows I hate meeting new people. Go back and tell her you couldn't find me and you think I left already." She stopped a few feet before him and gave him a quick look over. "What are you dressed as?"

"A werewolf and for tonight you can call me wolf. Who's your friend?" Wolf asked with a nod at the man still sitting on the couch behind Bella.

"Wolf this is Cullen. He is a vampire for the night." She said.

Wolf gave Cullen a cold glare and gently grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her towards the door. "You know how Tink is. If I don't get you there now she will have my fur covered hide." He said as she walked with him through the door.

Bella turned back quickly and threw Cullen a apologetic look as she was lead away yet again.

Sorry about the long wait and the small chapter everyone. I am right in the middle of my midterms for my classes and don't have a lot of time for anything but studying.

I haven't gotten any reviews yet, but I have gotten some story alert adds so I assume someone likes the story so far.

Please let me know what you think.

I will try and update soon. Don't be mad at me if it takes a while again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

BPOV

_Why is Alice always dragging me away from Cullen. I mean she probably didn't know I was with him this time, but this makes the second time she has pulled me away from him._ Bella thought to herself as the followed Wolf through the crowd and into the main hallway. Standing near the door was a man dressed in a Thor costume. He was at least a foot and a half taller than Jasper and more than twice his size because of all the muscles. He had already removed his mask and was grinning at Bella and Wolf approaching. Beside him was a tall blond woman with a scowl that looked as though it was stuck permanently on her face. She was dressed as a goddess of some sort with a toga that was cut to just a few inches above her knees and was draped across one shoulder showing off a great deal of her chest. Around her eyes was colored in with a light pink makeup that got brighter the father it got away from her eyes and ended in elaborate swirls near her hair line.

"Bella this is Emmet or Thor for the night." Alice said as she pointed to the tall muscular man and giggled. "Don't worry hes such a teddy bear." Alice said seeing the look for confusion on my face. Emmet moved forward and grasped me into a bone crunching hug and set me down with a thump.

"Great to meet you Bella. This is Rose my wife." He indicated the woman beside him, who was now giving me even more of a scowl that was almost a look of pure hatred.

"Nice to meet you Rose." I said politely.

"Yea whatever and call me Rosalie. Rose is for my friends only." She growled at me before she moved away into the crowd. I watched her go and wonder why she hated me so much. I mean I had just met her for heaven sake.

"Don't mind her, she's always bitchy when she first meets someone." Emmet said apologetically before he went after her.

I looked back to Alice who was giving me a look as though she had just given me the greatest treat in the world. I looked at Wolf who just rolled his eyes at Alice.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked as I turned back to Alice. Wolf seeing an argument coming on between Alice and I quickly found something interesting he needed to attend to across the room and fled.

"What are you talking about? Emmet and Rose, or should I say Thor and Aphrodite, are going to be two of your new best friends!" She said sounding very pleased with herself.

"Aphrodite." I snorted. "Well that seems fitting, she's got more beauty in her pinky than most girls have all together. Especially me."

Alice frowned. "You don't see yourself clearly." She said as she patted me on the shoulder. "Come on lets go mingle a little. Its not ever day I get to see you be so open with people." She tried to move me into the room with all the guests, but I wasn't budging.

"Alice I'm getting tired. I would really just like to go home. Besides I don't want to meet anymore people." I said with an exasperated sigh.

Alice gave me a sad puppy dog eyes and stuck out her bottom lip. "Please?" She begged.

"No Alice. I really just want to go home and curl up with a good book. This party just isn't me. Besides the only good thing to happen to me tonight I keep getting pulled away from." I said thinking of Cullen.

"Well then lets see if we can find your "good thing" again and perk you right back up." She said looking around like she was going to find him any second.

"Last I saw of him he was in the library." I said, barely getting it out before Alice started off in that direction. I sighed again and followed her, thinking how crazy she is. When we reached the library she threw open the door and jumped inside. _If Cullen was in there she would have scared the crap out of him._ I thought to myself as she stormed into the room looking around. She quickly came back out and gave me a sad look and shook her head. _Just as I thought, he probably left soon after I was dragged off to find another girl to flirt with._ Alice walked past me and down the hallway into the kitchen. I stayed where I was not wanting to play this game of hide and seek. I was tired and really not enjoying myself anymore and wanted to go home. I made my way upstairs and into the guest room where all my normal clothing was and quickly changed out of the dress and into my jeans and hoodie. I pulled the hood over my head hoping to get out of here without Alice seeing me.

As I slid out the guest room door I heard giggling in the room next to mine, another guest room that wasn't supposed to be occupied tonight. I was going to walk past the door without bothering the people but stopped when I heard a familiar voice.

"This isn't what I was expecting." Cullen voice drifted through the door. A females voice drifted through the door as a throaty moan. Then there was the sound of movement in the room. I couldn't help but peek inside the partly open door to see what was going on.

Inside it was a mess of clothing, a bra here and a lacy top next to the door. Shoes were kicked off next to the bed where Cullen was being straddled by a topless girl in a very tiny skirt that looked as though it was about to ride up over her butt cheeks. I couldn't see Cullen's face or hear what he was saying because the girl above him had grabbed a hold of his hands and placed them on her bare chest and was moaning loudly.

I moved away from the door not wanting to see what was going to happen next and moved down the stairs. Tears began to pool at the corner of my eyes as I reached the front door and slid out it quietly. _I thought he was flirting with me earlier in the library. Maybe he was but when I was dragged off he went to find another girl to try and seduce into sleeping with him. That must have been his plan the entire time, trying to get a girl to sleep with him. I just happened to be the first one he came across._ I thought to myself as I wiped the tears from my eyes and hopped into my old beat up truck. _How stupid of me to believe that a guy would ever actually be into me, plain ol' Bella. _I started up the truck and left drive without another look back at the house.

The drive back to my house was quick and painful from all the thoughts I was having. Dissecting each thing Cullen had said to me and how it was a carefully mastered seduction. I was fooled so easily, thinking he was being a gentleman and flirting with me as though he actually cared. As I made my way into my house I slammed the door behind me angrily and stormed up the stairs to my bedroom. I plopped down onto my bed and crushed my face into my pillow to scream in frustration. _Alright Bella you have had your cry. Time to move on and get back to your uncomplicated life. Read a book and you will soon forget all about it._ My brain said to me. Good idea I thought as sat up on my bed and grabbed the nearest book and opened it up.

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**_Sorry it took so long to update again. I really mean to update more often. But I have a good reason for taking so long. My father in law passed away last week and after all the funeral arrangements there was still a ton of things that needed to be done. So after a long struggle with all that I finally got back to my laptop to write._**

**_I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am thinking about doing a chapter in EPOV, but I will leave it up to you readers if you all want that or not._**

**_I have still yet to receive a review and that is very upsetting. So before I post a new chapter I would like to have at least five reviews please. I hate having to do this, but I really want to know what you all think. So PLEASE REVIEW! I beg you._**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

EPOV

From the moment I laid my eyes on her I knew I would never be the same. She was a sex goddess, she had to be, there was no way a woman a beautiful as her could have been here on earth unless she was sent to give every man the death they wished for… death by sex. Somehow once I had the chance to talk to her, she didn't seem to realize that she was breathless. The night seems to go so slowly when she wasn't near and the escape to the library was a peaceful rest from all the women fawning over me at every turn. Then Marie turned up unexpectedly, so too was trying to get away from the party goers. Then as quickly as she came, she was pulled away by one friend or another. Damn those people for taking her away from me… I need her. I sat in the library for what seemed like hours waiting, hoping she would come back. After a while I cursed my bad luck and decided to try and find her on my own. In my searching I came across one girl after another, but none was my butterfly princess. After a quick search on the ground floor I headed upstairs in hopes of finding her alone in one of the rooms.

"Cullen." A woman's voice purred in my ear as I stood in the middle of what appeared to be a spare bedroom. I spun around and gave the woman a slight grin.

"Ah… hello. Do I know you?" I asked as the woman licked her lips as she looked me over with hungry eyes. I backed a step or two up and my legs came into contact with the bed.

"You don't remember me?" She asked pouting her lips and batting her eyes at me as she walked towards me and pulling the hem of her lacy shirt up to just below her breast. Her skin was flawless beneath the top, but it was not the skin I wanted to run my hands across. I just stared at her in shock. What was this woman doing?

"I met you earlier tonight, my name is starlight, remember?" She moved closer again pulling her top over her head and throwing on the floor next to the door. I tried to move around her but she moved in front of me and pushed me onto the bed. I didn't want to be rude to this woman, but I really didn't want to be part of whatever show she was putting on. I tried to stand and move away from her, but she pushed me back down.

"This isn't what I was expecting." I said as she straddled me and giggled. She kicked off her shoes and reached down and pulled mine off before I could react. I tried to push her off but she was strong and held me down. She rubbed herself on my crotch and moaned loudly as she pulled off her bra and threw it somewhere in the room.

"Please remove yourself from my lap." I asked nicely, but I don't think starlight heard me, she grabbed my hands and moaned loudly as she placed them on her bare breasts. I pulled my hands away quickly and pushed against her thighs hoping to get her to move. I must have pushed her a little to hard because the next thing I knew starlight was on the floor and I was standing up.

"Terribly sorry, but I did ask you to move." I said as I looked to the door to see a quick movement outside it. Shit someone had seen that little sexual display of hers. I moved to the door hastily and pulled it open to see Marie, now changed into regular clothing, run down the hall and down the stairs. Double shit… I needed to stop her and explain to her what was going on. I ran after her but lost her in the party downstairs.

*SLAP* My cheek stung from a solid hand to it.

"What the hell?" I asked as I looked around for the source of my pain. Standing not a foot in front of me was a fairy or pixie or whatever she was. "What was that for you evil little fairy?" I growled at her as I rubbed my sore cheek.

"I don't know what you did to my best friend to make her run out of here like that. But Im sure you deserved that slap and probably an ass kicking to go with it." She said angrily giving me a glare that could have killed.

"How do you even know if it was me that upset her?" I asked.

"You were running after her weren't you?" I nodded my head. "Then you did something wrong." She said accusingly.

"Fine your right…" She gave me a smug smile. "But its not what she thinks. I need to talk to her and explain things. Will you help me?" The fairy considered me for a minute and shook her head no.

"This entire party was about getting to know the people behind the masks. Im not going to make it easy on you. If you really want her than you are gonna have to find her. Im letting fate do all the work." She said as she turned and left.

"Useless little fairy." I muttered as I went back upstairs to get my shoes. Thankfully starlight wasn't in the room any more, she was probably off trying to sex up some other poor man.

I stayed at the party for only a few minutes before giving up on having any fun and decided to leave. Marie stayed on my mind the entire drive. How was I going to find her? There couldn't possibly be that many brown haired girls in this small town could there?

_**Sorry its been so long since my last update. Its been rough here. After my father in law passed away there was just so much to take care of. It was like a bomb being dropped on my husband and I. Then I got caught up in my college finals. And yesterday my rabbit passed away. So its been like hell here.**_

_**I still haven't gotten five reviews yet and Im hoping to get them this time around. I will try and update more often. I am really sorry I haven't been. I will do my best to have another chapter out before the end of the week.**_


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